Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’

This year is going by so fast! Nothing like getting near to the end of a month to make me think about how productive or unproductive I’ve been. (sigh!) Well, while there is still light, and into the dark of night, I still have plenty of time to work on a project, painting, taking or editing photos. When we work for an employer it is always good to have a sense of urgency to get things done. We want to show others that we will work hard for what they are paying us. I guess I think of it as a way of saying thank you to them for having given me a job and a way to have money to pay the bills.

But with my artwork my tendency is to be rather lazy in creating. This is probably true because there are not always immediate external rewards for what I’ve created. Yes, I need to create for myself but who would deny that they don’t feel some joy when you post your work on social media and people express some form of appreciation for their efforts. Yet… although I absolutely love seeing the images on the back of my camera or on my easel I know I do desire to have the reward of having my work hanging on someones wall.

The picture above is of a zinnia. I took this last night at almost 8 pm. The sun was gone and there I was taking pictures… as if maybe tomorrow I wouldn’t have that chance again. And this is because I’ve learned to stop and take the picture when I see it, as next year those same plants will most likely will not be there.

Last week I told you about one artist that had inspired me with her online tutorial this past Spring, and today I would like to tell you about another, Danielle Donaldson and her tutorials offered through Jeanne Oliver’s website. If you click on her center picture that says ‘online creative network’ you will be taken to where Jeanne offers many different classes from different artists. http://jeanneoliver.ning.com/
Danielle’s classes combine watercolor with fun illustrations and are geared toward the beginner and even the more advanced. I am also enjoying her book Creative Girl. I like making little characters so it fits right with what I need for inspiration in my sketchbook. You can find Danielle Donaldson here.

Hello everyone! I’m back after another very long hiatus! I’ve been through quite a bit in the last couple years, but thankfully, nothing life threatening. Life just has lots of twists and turns and one has to deal with it as it comes. But we go to sleep and wake up and we do the best we can. Thankfully I have the Lord that guides me and carries me through the really difficult times. I am very thankful for His presence in my life. In that time I lived in 4 different places, had most of my belongings in storage, worked 3 different jobs and hadn’t been able to do a lot of creating. And this became especially true as I became a grandmother and was blessed with 2 granddaughters who are now 7 and 4 1/2 months old. What a joy that has been! During all this time I have managed to keep photographing but have yet to print or show my photos. I think it’s my painting and drawing that has suffered the most. In fact I finally put them in a gallery and didn’t sell a single one. But I don’t worry. I know we all go through seasons. I believe in embracing change and hanging on until conditions are in my favor. Yep, I’m an optimist. Have to be. I have no desire to be sad or depressed.

I’ve also gone through a lot of soul searching with my art during this time of waiting. The ‘what am I supposed to be doing’ and ‘am I doing the right thing’ kind of stuff. I think those thoughts creep in the most because I don’t have room to work or don’t complete anything new or sell anything. But I just have to keep saying, “ok, what is next”? That way, when I have room will I be ready.

I also had completely ignored my blog because I just didn’t know what I wanted to say. Part of that searching meant I had to listen to thoughts that said I wasn’t an expert in anything so why bother trying to write a blog. But I figured that when my mind was ready to write again I would find a way to bring my thoughts back here.

Strangely, it seemed that having a website and taking my wordpress.com blog over to it seemed to bring my blogging to a halt as well and then all I was doing was paying too much just to have a place to share my links. So this week I redid my website to a free one, for now, until I decide if I want to connect my domain and I brought my blog back to it’s original location where I seemed to connect with people more. I guess I felt like I was marooned on my own website. I’m learning that I need to create my art life in a way I am comfortable with, and not because someone says that to be an artist you have to do it a certain way. I’m not too crazy about fitting into someone’s little box. So here is that new website. Let me know what you think.

Today, and in my next post, I want to share a couple of artist’s websites with you. These are where I have done some online courses this past Spring. It’s part of my ‘staying upbeat’ strategy because their classes are very affordable and I simply don’t have money to waste.So the first workshop I did was one I was wanting to do for some time as I’m a big fan of her illustrations.

I did her Character Sketch Workshop and still hope to do Layers of Color. The other two are geared toward children.

It feels nice to be writing again. I’m glad to be back and hope to start making this a habit. Not because someone says I should post on certain days or a certain number of days to get noticed but just because, well, I want to share things with you and not stay on my own little island but be connected to others.

I made these aprons for my son and two daughters at Christmas. The plan was to make a full apron but this is what I went with. I am a big procrastinator and I also had to wait until there was money to buy the apron (since I hadn’t pulled out the sewing machine early enough).
I had bought some ‘fabric’ pens but quickly found out that they bled too much and so I used them very fast and sparingly for the colors. I used my Pitt pens for the blacks and some grey shading, and they worked much better. Then I heat set them with an iron. This past week I received a new purchase of a set of 23 Pitt markers, so I’m looking forward to playing on fabric with them.

I posted these in hopes of inspiring others to try this out. Wal-Mart has some really nice full aprons right now for about $7, but aprons are also very easy to sew up and a good starter project if you want to learn to sew.

In the past year I have had so much fun discovering ways to make creative marks. Sometimes it’s really difficult to find either inspiration or something to get me started. The Batman and rose on the aprons came from a search for images, mainly because I was short on time and needed help. Everything else is either from notes or searches on doodles and Zentangles. Keeping a sketchbook definitely helps for finding ideas and inspiration when I need it.

Flickr is another place that has been a wealth of inspiration, and from there I’ve found blogs and new friends with even more inspiration. Find me on Flickr and have a look at my ‘favorites’ and see what I admire. I read last year how Flickr seems to have dropped the ball to where they could’ve taken it’s site, but I now have artistic contacts from all over the world and my own area. Just last night I was searching and found a local photography club on there that I can get involved with. Hope you find great things there too.

Today I added this drawing to the Sketchbook Challenge on Flickr. I didn’t have a clue what I could contribute this month as I have been concentrating on creating character’s. Which, of course, fit perfectly with last month’s challenge about Imaginary Animals. But November theme is Trashed, Ruined and Decay and I struggled to find inspiration. Then last night, after drawing the beginning of this character, I realized that I had found my submission without even trying.

You see, most of my Christmas ornaments are very whimsical and last year this one broke, and so far I’ve not been able to repair it and simply couldn’t throw it away. And since I am on personal quest to create my own human-like characters for stories and illustrations, I knew that I wanted to draw the ornament and hoped it would help me get over this block that has been keeping me from going forward.

Through this one little exercise I found that out of those things which we discard or neglect, that which can be right in front of us, is often what we need to pursue our dreams. For me, life is all about finding those things that have made us who we are today and let them shine and touch another persons life, because we all need to be touched by another as we make our way through this world full of the broken and ruin. Today I chose to find joy and inspiration amidst life’s decay, because there is always beauty and purpose in every little corner.